Remedial Chaos Theory
Summary: The study group is invited to Troy and Abed's house warming party and six different scenarios unfold based on the roll of a Yahtzee dice. Plot Annie and Britta both arrive at Troy '''and '''Abed's '''apartment for their house warming party. They find that '''Shirley is already there baking for the guests. Jeff '''and '''Pierce then show up as well greeted by Troy. Jeff tries to bow out of the party citing another event he has to attend. Abed reveals that the invitation he recieved was fake, he sent it so that Jeff would keep his calender open for the house warming.Troy and Abed then invite them all to play a game of Yahtzee. Although the study group gathers at a table to start playing no one actually knows how to. The buzzer then alerting them that the pizza Abed ordered earlier has just arrived. As they are unable to let the delivery person up someone has to go downstairs to get the pizza. Jeff proposes a roll of the die to determine who will do that. Abed warns jeff that doing so will automatically create alternate timelines. Jeff rolls anyway and six different scenarios are presented... *''' Annie is chosen to get the pizza'. Britta plays "Roxanne" on the stereo and Jeff stops her from singing along, she goes to the bathroom. Troy finds Annie's gun in her purse. Pierce tries to give Troy a housewarming present but is ignored. Jeff stands up and hits his head on the ceiling fan. Shirleys finishes baking her pies. Abed asks Britta about the smell coming from the bathroom. When Annie shows up with the pizzas Britta acts wierd. *'thumb|right|250px|Googly eyes?!Shirley is chosen to get the pizza. Before she leaves she asks the others to look after her pies. Jeff then reminds the study group of thier pact not to enable her baking. Britta tries to sing along to "Roxanne" but Jeff stops her and she goes to the bathroom. Pierce gives his house warming gift and Troy freaks out when he sees it's Norwegian troll doll. Jeff laughs at him then stands up and hits his head on the ceiling fan. No one checks on Shirley's pies and they get burned. She chastises the group before leaving upset. * Pierce is chosen to get the pizza'. Before leaving he mentions sleeping with Eartha Kitt on an airplane. Britta tries to sing along to "Roxanne" but Jeff stops her and she goes to the bathroom to smoke a joint. Jeff makes fun of Troy which causes him to go join Britta. Back at the table Annie chides Jeff for being hard on Troy, he stands up and hits his head on the ceiling fan. Britta and Troy have a talk and end up making each other feel better. Pierce comes back with the pizzas and everyone notices a moment between Troy and Britta. *' Britta is chosen to get the pizza'. When Britta leaves Pierce tries to segue into his Eartha Kitt story. Shirley cuts him off and leaves to check on her pies. Jeff tries to leave as well but ends up hitting his head on the ceiling fan. Annie offers to take a look at his injury in the bathroom. After tending to his wound Jeff expresses his concern over her living at Dildopolis. The two are about to kiss but are interrupted when they hear screaming. Pierce is terrorizing Troy with a troll doll. Abed calls him out about being jealous of them living together. Britta then arrives anouncing her engagement to the pizza delivery guy Toby. *' Troy is chosen to get the pizza'. After he leaves 'the darkest timeline' unfolds. When Troy returns he finds that Pierce is dying, heavily bleeding after having been accidently shot in the leg by Annie's gun. On top of that a fire has broken out in the apartment with Jeff desperately trying to put it out. In the middle of the fire is the Norwegian troll doll smiling back at him. He drops the pizza and starts to scream... *' Abed is chosen to get the pizza'. After demanding money from the group to pay for it Abed leaves. Britta tries to sing but Jeff stops her. She goes to the bathroom to smoke a joint. Jeff gets up from the table and hits his head on the ceiling fan. Annie offers to look at his injury in the kitchen. Pierce gives Troy his house warming gift but feels guilty after Troy thanks him for letting him stay at his mansion and tries to take it back. Annie and Jeff share a moment and then kiss. Troy is angry after finding out his gift is a troll doll. Britta upsets Shirley when she reaveals the group's pact not to enable her baking. Annie annoys Jeff when she makes a comparison of him to her father. Abed then arrives with the pizza oblivious to the bad mood of the study group. After the divergent timelines play out the "prime" timeline is then shown. In this one Jeff attempts to roll the die but Abed catches it before it can land. He explains to the group that Jeff had set up a way for him not to have to get the pizza. By using the six sided die and counting down from his left to determine the person selected to get the pizza he ensures he will never be the one to get it since he is number seven. The other's then elect Jeff to go downstairs to get the pizza. In his absence Britta is able to sing causing the other's to join in. Pierce is enjoying himself so much he decides not to give Troy his house warming gift. When Jeff returns he sees them dancing and having a good time. He doesn't join in and instead eats a slice of pizza watching the festivites from the sidelines. End tag At the end of the episode we see what has happened after the events in Troy's timeline. Pierce has died from the gunshot wound. Annie is under psychiatric care due to the guilt. Jeff has lost an arm from trying to put out the fire. Troy's throat is damaged after he tried to destroy the troll doll by eating it while it was on fire. Shirley has become an alchoholic because of the recent events. Abed suggests that this is the darkest timeline and they should become the evil study group. Together they will somehow cross over to the "prime" timeline and take over thier duplicates lives. In the "prime" timeline Abed gets a weird sense that something ominus is happening. Alternate timelines graph Controversy: After the episode aired fans speculated and debated over which timeline was the "real" timeline. The creator and showrunner Dan Harmon cleared up the controversy by posting this message on his tumblr site: ''"That center, or “prime” timeline, is the one in which Abed catches the die, exposes Jeff as a selfish hooligan and the group sends him down for the pizza. That is the “real” timeline. And when we were not in it, I did everything I could to make it clear. As much fun as we want to have, we never want to confuse you or lie to you." Recurring themes 'Continuity': *'That just happened': In the season 3 premiere Troy and Abed anounce they are moving in together, Annie reminds Jeff of the conversation they had in"Geography of Global Conflict". *'Living arrangements':Troy's time living with Pierce's mansion in Season 2 is a plot point in this episode as is Annie's apartment above Dildopolis *'Super fan': Abed has a diarama of Indiana Jones prominently displayed. He mentions being a huge fan of the franchise in Season 1 episode "Social Psychology" although he was dissapointed with the last one.. *'A nice gesture:'' After finding out someone has to go get the pizza the study group touches the thier nose in order to siginify they are not "it". They used this gesture before in "Aerodynamics of Gender". *'''Double take: Six diffrent versions of the same situation are presented in this episode. *'Background ':'' :: Troy and Abed's apartment has framed photos of both of them together from various episodes from the past two seasons. :: In the kitchen of Troy and Abed's apartment the refrigerator is made up to look like a vending machine. One of the selctions pictured is Troy referencing his being trapped inside a vending machine in the end tag of "Basic Genealogy". :: The Greendale College flag can be seen several times. :: There is also a poster of Kick Puncher that can clearly be seen in the background when Jeff reacts to Pierce being accidently shot by Annie's gun. :: The "Kick Splasher" poster that appeared in the Season 1 episode "Pascal's Triangle Revisited" can be seen in the kitchen when Jeff and Annie kiss. *'School song'': ''The song "Roxanne" by "The Police" is featured prominently in this episode Running gags: *'''Catch Phrase: Britta says "Duh Doy" *'WWBJD?: '''Shirley chastises the group as horny toads who make googly eyes at each other. *'Troy and Abed in the morn-ing!: In the episode end tag the alternate timeline Troy and Abed do their signiture handshake and declare thier new identities as "Evil Troy and Evil and Evil A-bed". '''Meta references: *This episode was originaly intended to be the third episode aired but Harmon felt they needed to have more time to edit it properly and switched the air date with "Competitive Ecology". This is referenced when Britta asks Annie about the number to Troy and Abed's apartment which is 303, the same number as the production code for the episode. *The Darkest Timeline sees Abed cutting out fake goatees for the "evil" study group. This is a direct reference to Star Trek '''and it's "Mirror Universe" concept where evil alternate versions of the main characters would appear. The first appearance of these doppelgangers had an evil version of '''Spock sporting a goatee. Community fandom would later adopt the phrase "The Darkest Timeline" to refer to the shows haitus halfway during season 3. Pop culture refences *Abed has a diarama of "Indiana Jones" which he proudly shows off to his guests. *The group play the classic boardgame game Yahtzee . *In each timeline Pierce tries to tell his story about sleeping with singer/actress Eartha Kitt. *When criticizing Jeff for his selfish actions Pierce says to "Encarta" the word friendship, a reference to the now defunct online multi-media encyclopedia that was produced by Microsoft. Quotes: *''"There's no such thing as "Single malt liquor platinum boobs and billiards club"? Aw, I guessed I never said it out loud."--''Jeff *''"Okay starting on my left with 1 up die when your number comes up you go''"--'Jeff' : "Just so you know Jeff you're creating six diffrent timelines."--'Abed' : "Of course I am Abed."--'Jeff' *''"Feel the terror Troy, feel the terror of the Norwegian troll!!!"--''Pierce *''"Annie '''will always be driven, '''Shirley will always be giving, Pierce will never apologize, Britta's sort of a wildcard from my perspective and Jeff 'will forever remain a conniving son of a bitch."--'''Abed Ultimateatomicbuster 23:34, February 26, 2012 (UTC) Category:Season 3 Episodes